Four-legged neighborhood prowlers in Alamance County

Published: Sunday, November 18, 2012 at 03:01 PM.

Coyotes aren’t a threat to humans, but you’d better keep an eye on your pet dogs and cats.

That’s the word from area wildlife officers.

“Their food of choice is whatever they come across,” said Billy Holland, a captain with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. “They’re the top predator in the neighborhood. Yard dogs and house cats, they’re going to eat if they can get to them. They’ll even take down deer.”

Coyotes — a critter once all but unheard of in
North
Carol
ina
— have been reported in every county in the state. Plenty of them call
Ala
mance
County
home, some even living inside municipal limits.
Holland
said the coyotes migrated from several areas and with few natural enemies, their numbers are growing.

He compared them to gypsies: “If they’re here, they’re going to eat,”
Holland
said. “They go where the food is.”

According to a study by the Wildlife Resources Commission, an elimination of wolves throughout the Southeast opened the door for a return of coyotes. The first coyotes in the state were reported in
Gaston
County
in the 1930s. By about 1980 they could be found in just about all counties and in the years since their numbers have done nothing but swell.

Coyotes aren’t a threat to humans, but you’d better keep an eye on your pet dogs and cats.

That’s the word from area wildlife officers.

“Their food of choice is whatever they come across,” said Billy Holland, a captain with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. “They’re the top predator in the neighborhood. Yard dogs and house cats, they’re going to eat if they can get to them. They’ll even take down deer.”

Coyotes — a critter once all but unheard of in North Carolina — have been reported in every county in the state. Plenty of them call AlamanceCounty home, some even living inside municipal limits. Holland said the coyotes migrated from several areas and with few natural enemies, their numbers are growing.

He compared them to gypsies: “If they’re here, they’re going to eat,” Holland said. “They go where the food is.”

According to a study by the Wildlife Resources Commission, an elimination of wolves throughout the Southeast opened the door for a return of coyotes. The first coyotes in the state were reported in GastonCounty in the 1930s. By about 1980 they could be found in just about all counties and in the years since their numbers have done nothing but swell.

The number may have grown in part because of the escape or release of “pet” coyotes. The animals have a habit of getting out of pens designed to hold them. (They’re called “wily coyotes” for a reason.)

Coyotes are smaller than wolves — about the size of a medium-sized dog. Their weights range from 20 pounds to 45 pounds. They have ears that are pointed and erect, and long, slender snouts. The animals are typically gray, but their color can range from blonde to black. They’ve been known to mate with dogs to produce a hybrid.

Holland said it’s legal to shoot coyotes anytime during daylight. There’s also a trapping season for the animals. Holland said if a farmer or other individual can show coyotes are causing damage to his property or livestock, he can get a permit to trap them any time of the year. Farmers can also hire a damage control agent to trap the animals.

According to the Wildlife Resources Commission, in 2010-11, the last year for which statistics are available, 15,805 coyotes were hunted in North Carolina. Coyotes are capable of carrying rabies, but wildlife officers said other animals — skunks and raccoons, especially — are a bigger threat.

Jeff Wilkins, a veterinarian and owner of ElonAnimalHospital, referred to coyotes as “a major problem.” He said he’s seen large packs of the animals near his farm in northern AlamanceCounty and said he recently lost two baby calves to coyotes. Wilkins said it’s not unusual for him to hear the animals howling at night and said he often sees signs of their excrement around his pastures.

He said it’s not unusual to hear of coyotes killing a deer that weighs 150 pounds. “It’s a problem that’s only getting worse,” Wilkins said of the over-abundance of coyotes.

Chris Moore, a sergeant with the Wildlife Resources Commission, said as far as he knows, there’s never been a reported case of a coyote attacking a human — in North Carolina or elsewhere in the United States. But beyond that, Moore said, pretty much anything else is fair game when it comes to filling a coyote’s belly.